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</script>ZnS wurtzite via the Two-Step Sintering process: effects on ceramic density and microstructure
Pyrolectric materials are able to harvest energy both from naturally and artificially occurring temperature changes. These materials could be the right way to recover some of the enormous amount of energy wasted as heat and help to develop new devices for harvesting thermal ambient energy. In this work it was investigated the development of bulk, dense pyroelectric ceramics, ideally with a highly developed texture and small grain size, using a micron-sized powder of the ZnS wurtzite phase as precursor material. The Two-Step Sintering (TSS) process is a useful method to obtain high sintered density and to limit the grain growth associated with the final stage of the sintering process. One of the main advantages of this method is the lowering of the sintering temperature. The microstructural, morphological and electrical properties of TSS-ZnS were determined and compared to ZnS produced by the conventional sintering process, performed at 1250°C. TSS-ZnS showed comparable density and a finer microstructure than conventional ZnS (five times lower grain size). It was demonstrated that the TSS process is a pressureless, simple and cost‐effective sintering method to obtain high density materials with controlled grain growth, without using a dopant or binder. The TSS produced ZnS ceramic was tested for pyroelectric energy harvesting. It is expected that the efficiency of the ceramic in harvested energy could be further improved by decreasing the grain size down to the nanoscale. Acknowledgement: This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 797951.
zinc sulfide, pressure-less sintering, wurtzite, two step sintering, ceramics
zinc sulfide, pressure-less sintering, wurtzite, two step sintering, ceramics
